A report released Wednesday says attacks on the press in Mexico are destroying Mexicans' right to freedom of expression and have become a national crisis demanding immediate government intervention.

The report, published by the Committee to Protect Journalists, said 22 journalists have been killed since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon took office. Eight of those deaths happened in what the report called "direct reprisal for reporting on crime and corruption."

Seven journalists have also gone missing, while dozens more have been attacked, kidnapped or forced into exile, the report said.

Adding to the crisis is "systemic impunity [that] has taken root at the state and local levels where most anti-press crimes are investigated," the report said.

The New York-based CPJ has called on the Mexican government to "intervene directly to guarantee the right of free expression enshrined in the Mexican constitution."

"The more Mexico allows the news to be controlled by criminals, the more it erodes its status as a reliable global partner," the report said.

The report also called on journalists — reporters and editors — not to be corrupted by threatening drug cartels.

According to Mexico's National Human Rights Commission, more than 60 reporters have been killed since 2000, and many more have been harassed and threatened by drug gangs.

With files from The Associated Press